Rio de Janeiro (dpa) – Three German beach volleyball teams were unable to train in their Olympic arena Friday but, to the delight of locals, they found an alternative nearby.

At the Copacabana beach, Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst, Britta Buethe and Karla Borger, and the male duo Markus Boeckermann and Lars Flueggen simply rented one of the many public sand courts that are normally used by locals. They had been unable to train in the Olympic beach volleyball stadium as it was closed to prepare for the opening matches.

Some 400 onlookers cheered the training match between the two German womens’ teams.

The Olympic tournament for beach volleyball, which is a popular sport in Brazil, starts Saturday in the Copacabana arena with capacity for 12,000 spectators.